


gold as vengeance

by wrennette



Series: Trashpile: A Compendium of Unfinished Fics [24]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Jango Fett, BAMF Obi-Wan Kenobi, Bounty Hunters, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Fallen Obi-Wan Kenobi, Gen, Mandalorian Culture, Satine in beskar'gam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 16:40:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20510171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrennette/pseuds/wrennette
Summary: . . . . even former warlords needed to eat, and his current paycheck even allowed him to hunt down Death Watch, the faction that had set his people up to be massacred by the Jedi.





	gold as vengeance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gondolin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gondolin/gifts).

Flickering firelight danced over a pair of still forms. The reds and oranges illuminated the smooth metal domes and plates of Mando beskar’gam, the rest of their figures fading into shadow. A twig snapped, but neither being moved. A third Mando’ad stepped into the ring of warmth cast by the small fire, crouching to warm their hands. 

“No movement,” the most recently arrived Mando’ad said, their words carried not through the external speaker of their helmet, but the internal comms that linked the three armoured beings together. Over the comms, their voice was soft but clear and precise, the faint accent on their Mando’a hinting at Kalevalan origins.

“We should be able to rest until first light then,” one of the others said, voice lower and more deeply accented, their Coruscanti upbringing coming through loud and clear. “I’ll take first watch.” 

The third just gave an acknowledging grunt, then reached their armoured hands into the fire and produced three well heated meal-packs from the embers. They handed the sealed pouches around, then reached up to pop off their helmet. The face revealed beneath was that of Jango Fett, once acclaimed as the _Mand’alor_ of the True Mandalorians. That had been years ago, and these days, he avoided responsibility as much as possible. But even former warlords needed to eat, and his current paycheck even allowed him to hunt down Death Watch, the faction that had set his people up to be massacred by the Jedi.

The soft _thunk_ of steel against stone sounded as the other two followed Jango’s example, pulling off their helmets so they could eat. Unlike his uncomplicated delight at getting revenge on Death Watch, Jango’s feelings on this part of his current posting were more complex. Satine Kryze, one of his charges, was the one paying his fees. She had, against all odds, survived the Clan Wars with only two Jedi as protection. 

The contract had been instigated when Bo-Katan, Satine’s sister who had joined Death Watch voluntarily, was rumoured to be killed by Pre Vizsla, leader of Death Watch. The news caused Satine, a nascent pacifist, to set aside any notion of laying down arms. Satine’s goal now was blood and vengeance, especially as there had been no word on the safety of her infant nephew, the last remaining member of her family.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, who Satine called Ben, was the final member of the party. He had been one of the Jedi protecting Satine for the past year, and it was clear they had grown close in that time. When he and his mission partner - his Master - had been recalled to Coruscant, Ben had refused, seeing there was still danger surrounding Satine, and wanting to continue protecting her. After a rather public falling out over Ben’s loyalties, the elder Jedi had left, bound for the Core and the Jedi Temple without his trainee. His transport had been destroyed a few hundred meters off the ground by a Death Watch rocket. 

According to gossip, Ben had sworn a blood oath to avenge his Master then and there, and forged his beskar’gam out of the ash and scrap metal of the shuttle that had been meant to carry the closest he had to a father to safety. Both that set of armour and Satine’s were painted the sandy gold Mando’ade had used from time immemorial to convey vengeance, with accents of deep red for their lost families, and black for justice. Jango didn’t doubt their desire for blood. And over the weeks since he’d agreed to help them hunt down Pre Vizsla and Death Watch, his other doubts had begun to fade. Dawn would be their first true test - that was when they would be assaulting the Death Watch encampment below. 

As the sun crept over the horizon hours later, Ben, Satine, and Jango were creeping through the Death Watch camp, placing explosives in tents and on supply caches and vehicles. In the hollow where Death Watch had chosen to sleep, the sun’s rays arrived later than they had on the ridge. By the time light began to filter over the camp, the three invaders had retreated to higher ground on the periphery. A signal flashed on the displays inside their helmets, and Jango depressed the trigger on his detonator. 

Explosions rocked the camp. Speeders became fireballs. An ammunition crate went off like a string of firecrackers on steroids. A few figures stumbled out of tents, barely able to see in the smoke and debris, even with the sensor information being fed to their helmets. Even from the hills, it would be a tough job to pick these stragglers off. Jango and Satine held their positions in case anyone managed to make it out of the kill zone. A flare of deep magenta light illuminated the chaos below. One or two of the more coherent Death Watch commandos managed to squeeze off a few wild shots before Ben separated their heads from their necks. 

Slowly the dust settled. Ben transmitted the all clear signal, but didn’t power down his lightsaber. He was certain the others would have questions - Satine had already become wary when his eyes bled from blue to simmering gold in the wake of his Master’s death. Soon, his blade would be fully red, and there would be no denying that he was something very much not a Jedi. 

“Who’d we get?” Jango asked over the comms as he strode through the ruined camp. 

“Not Pre Vizsla,” Ben said. “Lieutenants and commandos, but no Vizslas.”

“We won’t get him until we tear apart their family compound,” Satine said, an argument she had used a few days before to try and refuse this raid. 

“We have a lot of work to do before that compound is isolated enough that we can get in,” Ben argued, and Jango nodded his agreement. Satine huffed - it was the truth, but that didn’t mean she liked it. She wanted to tear Pre Vizsla’s throat open. And she wanted to ensure her nephew was raised a Kryze, rather than a Vizsla. That said, she still had sympathy for the rank and file of Death Watch, and thought they might be entreated to lay down their arms. Ben and Jango thought her a bit mad.

“It won’t be long before someone comes to investigate this, let’s see what we’ve managed, then get under cover,” Jango directed, and the others dipped their heads, then set to work. They hauled the dead out and lined them up, pulling off helmets to make identifications, since Death Watch didn’t personalize their armour. If they’d had an aircar or ship, the three hunters would have stripped the armour as a war prize. But they knew they couldn’t carry it, and so they left their opponents dressed. They did take some loot - small things that they could carry - mealpacks and water purification tabs, blaster charges and a few strings of detonators.

An hour after the raid was over, the three of them were gone, marching on over land toward another spot of rumoured Death Watch activity. For weeks they walked the hills of Concordia, sleeping rough and hunting to supplement their meagre rations. When they found Death Watch outposts, they surveilled them, and when they could come up with a workable plan, they raided the encampments, leaving chaos and destruction in their wake. 

It took a few months for them to thin Death Watchs ranks enough to even think about going after the Vizsla family compound. But after they went over a month without finding any other targets, they had to accept that Death Watch had gone to ground. The three hunters gathered around their fire in the mouth of an abandoned mine, planning their next move. 

“We aren’t just storming the front gate,” Satine said firmly, to get them started. Ben snorted, pulling off his helmet and setting it down so he could drink, then wet his gloved hands and briefly scrub over his face and hair. His shaggy red-brown hair stood up in every direction when he was finished, as if he’d grabbed hold of a power conduit. Satine huffed softly, reaching out to smooth his hair down a little then brush her fingers through the scruff on his cheeks. 

“No, we’ll have to be sneaky,” Jango agreed, following Ben’s example and taking the opportunity to drink and rub water over his face and dark curls. Cocking his head, Jango looked at the former Jedi. He was fairly certain he had figured out what the crimson blade meant, but so far Ben hadn’t shown any of the viciousness or cruelty that history whispered of when the topic of Sith were raised. So far as Jango was concerned, Sith or Jedi didn’t much matter - it was all Force nonsense to him, and he’d killed Force-users before. If Ben went bad in a way that endangered Jango, he could hold his own.

“What?” Ben asked, meeting Jango’s measuring look. 

“Can you get over the wall without being seen or heard?” Jango asked. He remembered well, Myles being pulled out of the air on Galidraan, the Jedi who killed him able to leap as high as a Mando in a jetpack flew. Ben nodded. Jango nodded in turn. “You get in, open a door for us, that’s all we really need. We’ve cleared enough camps by now that we know how it should work. This time we just have to secure the kid first, otherwise they have a very valuable hostage.”

“I can take out some of the guards and sensors before I let you in,” Ben offered. Jango and Satine both nodded. 

“As soon as I’m in, I’ll try and find my nephew,” Satine said. The others nodded. It wasn’t terribly precise, nothing like foolproof, but they didn’t have much intelligence to plan with at that point. 

“We should go before dawn - we’ve been pretty consistently attacking at sunrise, so let’s throw them off a bit,” Ben suggested. “They’ll have night vision as good as ours, I’m sure, but most of them won’t be sleeping in armour and helmets.” Satine chuckled, nodding. Jango dipped his head in agreement. 

“Two local time,” Jango suggested, and the others nodded. They spent the next few hours resting and double-checking their weapons. All three of them knew that this raid would be more dangerous than any of those that had come before. The hours of waiting dragged. Jango stared into the darkness, counting time as the chronometer display in his helmet ticked down the seconds and minutes. At his sides, Ben and Satine were just as still, tense with anticipation. 

The appointed time came, and Ben slipped ahead in the darkness. He was visible using their night vision filters for a few minutes, and then, with a terrific, somersaulting leap, he was up and over the perimeter fence of the Vizsla compound. Jango shook his head slightly, waiting for the younger man’s signal. About 15 minutes later, a red light began to blink in the corner of Jango’s heads-up-display. He tapped an acknowledgement, and then he and Satine were loping towards the compound like a pair of keyns on the hunt.

**Author's Note:**

> this is a snippet really, of an idea that went one way and that i'm reworking into something else. i liked this bit though, and then on their tumblr, gondolin said something about jangobitine so i had to dust it off and share. if i'd continued this instead of going in a different direction, they'd end up in a triad relationship, ruling mandalore and kicking ass.
> 
> per wookiepedia: Keyns were tracking carnivores from the Gontzol system. Imperial Security Bureau agents in the Internal Affairs branch were known as "keyns." 
> 
> i'm on tumblr, pillowfort and dreamwidth as wrennette, come say hi!


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